Make sure you always add salt.
We make a pilaf by sweating finely diced onions and celery in butter until the onions are almost translucent, then adding some chopped mushrooms, cooking for a few minutes, then adding the rice and stirring to "toast" the rice a bit, then adding the appropriate amount of chicken or vege stock instead of water.
We make cumin rice by finely chopping some onions, cooking as above with butter, then adding some ground cumin, stirring to toast and bring out the flavors, then toasting the rice, adding some minced garlic and cooking for about a minute, and then chicken or vege broth.
Cajuns make rice either plain or with the trinity, onion/celery/green bell pepper, and season it with salt, white pepper, black pepper and red pepper (cayenne).
Sometimes we make green rice using poblano pepper, onion, cilantro, garlic and cumin. You coarsely chop the onion, pepper and garlic, then put everything in a blender or food processor with about half of your liquid (either water or chicken broth, or a mix of both) and process until everything is very finely chopped. Pour the mix, the rice and the remaining liquid in a saucepan and cook. You can also throw in a jalapeno or Serrano if you want some spice.
You can add whatever veges you want, just precook them some. Add spices to your rice that complement the rest of your meal.
